$5b NAIF considering toll roads and energy projects in the Far North

The federal government's $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is considering funding toll roads and energy projects in the Far North, but it is remaining coy about whether it will help bank roll a new coal-fired power station.

The NAIF – which is set to announce its first funding by September – has whittled 124 expressions of interest to five projects which are under due diligence, including a rail link to Indian company Adani's $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine in Central Queensland and Genex Power's $823 million Kidston pumped hydro and solar project in North Queensland.

NAIF chief executive Laurie Walker would not comment on any coal-fired power project being considered but said energy and transport projects were being actively pursued by the board.

These included possible toll roads in the Far North, which would allow proponents to earn a commercial return on the project and, in theory, pay back the Commonwealth government.

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"We think there will be a key priority for roads that we can look at where key users will be prepared to pay charges to have those roads prioritised," Ms Walker told a Committee for the Economic Development of Australia lunch in Brisbane on Thursday.

"We are looking at that and we have equity and debt investors looking to work with us to make that happen."

While there has been ongoing concerns about NAIF funding "white elephant" projects in regional Australia, Ms Walker, a former banker with ANZ and CBA, said NAIF was a "gap financier" which would help projects proposed by the private sector or a state government to get off the ground.

"Yes, we have to get a return but the focus of this facility is all about public benefit and growth," she said.

"We can partner with the public sector but we have an ultimate aim to crowd-in the private sector and encourage the private sector to finance projects in the north, which to date there has not been as much funding as there needs to be."

While there has been a veil of secrecy over the NAIF, which former treasurer Joe Hockey announced in the 2015 budget, information has begun to trickle out.

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